Cookies & Cream Grows Up

This monstrosity was borne out of wondering what to make for National Ice Cream Day. There were two schools of thought at first. I was thoroughly excited about making our very first chocolate ice cream, while Nate had his eye on experimenting with a cookies ’n’ cream. The time came to when we were wandering the aisles of a grocery store near our house and we knew we had to make up our minds soon. At the last moment, Nate had the utterly genius idea of…simply not choosing.

 ‘¿Por qué no los dos?’ he said to me.

“¿Por qué no los dos?” he said to me.

He’s a madman, I thought.

We bought good chocolate, Oreos, and heavy cream and went home.

What transpired was a combination of a rich chocolate ice cream that resembled chocolate mousse—spiked with a little bourbon because we found it raiding the pantry and also why wouldn’t you do that? Then, in it’s last moments of churning, we crammed it full of crumbled Oreos.

There’s no possible way we can prepare you for how delicious this is. I almost got angry the first time I tasted it because it was so delicious. Angry. Lesson learned from making this ice cream: when you’re deliberating between two things, sometimes the best possible outcome for the choice is, in fact, choosing both. And I have to say, this is the best tasting compromise I’ve ever come across in my life.

In a heavy bottomed 2-quart pan, heat cream, milk, sugar, and salt until simmers and the sugar and salt completely dissolve. Place chocolate into the bowl of a large food processor. Pulse until broken into small chunks, the smaller the better. Add 1 cup of the hot cream-milk mixture while the food processor is running. Blend until chocolate is melted, making a rich ganache.

In a medium bowl, pour the rest of the cream-milk mixture. Add the ganache to the cream and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the whiskey. Add the xanthan gum, and stir until dissolved. Chill mixture for at least 2 hours before churning.

In your ice cream machine, churn the mixture for 25–30 minutes or until it thickens enough to stick to the churn or a spoon. Right before you stop churning, slowly add the cookies and churn for about a minute. Quickly transfer to a freezer-safe container. Cover with plastic wrap and the lid, and freeze until desired hardness is achieved. We recommend overnight, but this depends on how cold your freezer is.